If Fahiym Hanna, the Democratic candidate running against incumbent District 8 Guilford County Commissioner Skip Alston, loses to Alston in the March primary, it won’t be because his plans for the county weren’t grand enough.
On Wednesday, Feb. 26, Hanna sent out a press release detailing his longstanding plan to, if elected, lead a major transformation in the way less fortunate people in Guilford County are treated.
The centerpiece of Hanna’s candidacy calls for Guilford County government to start and support new services and enterprises that would hire thousands of county residents. It would begin with a pilot program of 10,000 residents and expand from there.
The program would allow those people to work 8 to 14 hours a week for local government programs in exchange for getting their basic needs met. Many of these people would be those who are currently on the social services rolls, however, the program would be open to everyone, regardless of income.
Hanna stated that that’s so “the money normally spent on basic needs can be diverted towards participating in a competitive for-profit economy for the things that we all want or otherwise struggle to afford.”
More information on Hanna’s “CPS Model” can be found at https://fahiymhanna.com/cps-model/.
Hanna, of course, has a few obstacles to overcome before that plan becomes a reality. Namely:
(1) He must unseat Alston who has been on the Board of Commissioners since 1992, with the exception of a couple of years in which Alston voluntarily stepped down. (Two years ago, Hanna ran against Alston and lost, getting 30 percent of the vote to Alston’s 70 percent.)
(2) Once elected, Hanna would need to convince at least four other members of the Republican-majority Board of Commissioners to adopt the plan.
(3) The county would then have to work through what seems like an amazing amount of governmental red tape to establish these work programs.
However, Hanna isn’t deterred. In the last 16 years, he says, he’s started his own local business and a community center, and he has “marched on the protest line and worked in non-profits creating internal policy.”
Commissioner Skip Alston said this week that he is not overconfident despite his big victory two years ago.
“He’s an opponent and I treat all opponents the same,” Alston said. “That’s why you see my billboards up in my district and why I’ve sent out mailers and been making a lot of phone calls.”
Alston said that he does not really know Hanna, though, when Hanna first ran against him in 2018, Alston went by his shop to introduce himself.
“I bought one thing while I was there,” Alston said.
